


Sam Winchester and the End of Days

by The_awesome_1



Category: Penryn & the End of Days - Susan Ee, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angels are still dicks, I'm pretty much mixing the two verses at random lmao, M/M, Sam and Dean are still hunters, Who needs rules
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-06-09 22:08:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6925237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_awesome_1/pseuds/The_awesome_1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was bad enough that angels had brought about the end of the world, but then they had to go and steal Sam's brother as well. Sam promises to find Dean no matter what it takes - even if that means dealing with an annoyingly cheerful angel on the run from the heavenly host. But the angels are planning something big, something that could destroy what's left of the world if they aren't stopped.<br/>Sometimes Sam misses the times where he only had to worry about getting killed by regular things. Like vampires. <br/>(It's not necessary to read the Penryn series to understand this)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't really a crossover. I just noticed some similarities between Angelfall, the first book in the Penryn series, and Supernatural and thought it would be fun to throw the spn characters into that universe. You don't have to be familiar with the series to understand this. This is my first multichapter work, so I would appreciate it if you could comment and tell me what you think!

One thing you can say for the end of the world, it sure gave some impressive skies at night, Sam thought. With the city lights almost totally dimmed, the stars glowed overhead like spilled diamonds, a display usually reserved for places far away from human habitation. The beauty is somewhat overshadowed by the knowledge that deadly predators could swoop out of the night sky at any moment.

            Deadly predators that he and his brother were currently hunting.

            Before the attacks began, they had assumed that angels were one of the few creatures of lore that didn’t exist. Even now, with the streets deserted and eerily quiet, Sam could almost pretend that this was simply another hunt.

            Slightly ahead of him, Dean paused and held up a hand. Sam stopped as well, listening intently. Now that the sound of their footsteps had stopped he could hear the faint beat of heavy wings. He looked at Dean, who nodded in confirmation. The two of them moved under the overhang of a nearby store, watching the sky warily.

            After a moment, an angel swooped down to land softly on the pavement in front of them, folding his tawny wings neatly. After a moment, four more landed in quick succession. There was more variety in their wings than Sam had previously expected, each angel a different color – parrot-like green, black, dark brown, and white. They looked around when they landed, but didn’t seem to spot the two hunters huddled against the building behind them.

            Sam exchanged frowning looks with Dean. They had been expecting only one or two angels; they weren’t prepared to fight five of them. Angels might be best at fighting from the air, but they were strong as hell and dangerous even on the ground.

            He was considering whether to try and get out of there or wait for some of the angels to leave when a pair of children wandered out from behind a nearby building. They couldn’t be more than eleven, but there was no adult in sight. The children froze as soon as they saw the angels, but they had already been spotted.

            The brown-winged angel grinned at the others. “Awww, look at the little baby monkeys. Do you think they like to fly?”

            He started toward the nearest child, a frightened looking girl, but was interrupted by a shot to the chest from Dean’s shotgun. He stumbled forward, pressing a hand to his chest, then turned to glare at the two hunters.

            “How _dare_ you?” He sounded like a cheerleader who had just discovered someone kissing her boyfriend. In other circumstances Sam would have found that hilarious, but the angels had pulled their swords out of wherever it was they kept them and were moving forward to cut of the hunters’ escape routes, which made it rather less funny.

            Sam readied his shotgun. It wouldn’t kill them; it was incredibly hard to kill or even seriously inconvenience an angel, but he and Dean might be able to convince them to seek easier prey elsewhere.

            The black-winged angel stopped suddenly, frowning at Dean. “Thaddeus, wait. Isn’t that…”

            The brown winged angel – Thaddeus? – cut him off with a sharp look. Then he looked back at Dean, head tilted slightly. “It is, isn’t it?”

            Dean looked back and forth between the two angels. “Are you going to explain what you’re talking about, or can we get on with kicking your butts?”

            “Sorry, I’m afraid we’re going to have to cut this short.” Thaddeus gestured toward Dean with his sword. “You’ve got somewhere to be.”

            The angels attacked all at once, focusing mostly on Dean. They were moving too quickly for Sam to shoot at them without risk of hitting Dean, so he was forced to switch to his knife. Green Wings dodged Sam’s first strike, grabbed his arm, and threw him onto the street without any visible exertion.

            The landing knocked the wind out of him, and he lay there for several seconds before he could breathe again. He scrambled back onto his feet in time to see the tawny winged angel knock Dean’s gun out of his hands and hit him over the head with the hilt of his sword.

Dean collapsed onto the white winged angel behind him, who grinned nastily at Sam. “How fast can you run, monkey?” Then he leaped into the air, taking Sam’s brother with him.

“Dean!” Sam shouted, reaching for his gun. But the angel was rising higher with every beat of his huge wings. A fall from that height would kill Dean for certain, and Sam couldn’t do anything but watch as the other angels followed their leader.

He stood frozen for a long time after the angels had faded into the distance, unable to comprehend what just happened. Why would the angels take Dean? They could have easily killed both of them, and if they were looking for slaves or something there were plenty of more docile humans left in the wreckage of the city. He remembered the way the black winged angel seemed to recognize Dean. What was that all about?

            Eventually he stirred, looking around for the children who had started all this. They were nowhere to be seen; they’d probably run the moment the angels had been distracted. Sam couldn’t blame them, really. They had looked like they’d been alone for a long time. Still, he would have liked to yell at someone just then.

            He forced himself to try and put together a plan. That the angels had carried Dean off instead of killing him right there had to be a good sign. It meant they wanted him alive, which meant there was a chance Sam could find him. He picked up Dean’s fallen gun and started back toward their temporary camp. He would go to sleep, and tomorrow he would find a way to rescue his brother.

           

            The plan he came up with was rather simple. The angels had been heading north-east when they took Dean, so Sam would head that direction as well and hope he ran into someone along the way who could help him figure where to find Dean. It wasn’t the best plan, but at the moment it was all he had.

            He sorted through their supplies carefully, not wanting to overburden himself, but not wanting to leave anything important. He thought longingly of their old Impala, which they had been forced to abandon when the roads became clogged with cars unable to drive for lack of gas.

            After emptying both his pack and Dean’s, he redistributed the supplies to account for only one person. At least he didn’t have to carry as much food, although he packed a little extra for when he found Dean. If he found Dean – but he wasn’t going to think like that. He would find Dean. He had to.

            Along with the food, he brought as many of his weapons as he could fit on himself and one set of blankets. He considered bringing a second for Dean, but decided it would take up too much space. They would just have to steal an extra set for him or something.

           

            The worst thing about this whole apocalypse is probably all the walking, if Sam is being honest. The angels are dicks, yeah, but at least they could be fought. You couldn’t shoot at a road to make it shorter. After walking for half the day, he really wishes that was possible.

            It hadn’t been as bad with Dean around. At least they could talk and distract each other from the endless walking in between towns. Now there’s just the rhythmic thumps of his boots against the cracked pavement, and the faint sound of someone singing.

            Wait, what?

            Now that he’s paying attention to it, he can tell that it’s coming from one of the buildings nearby. It sounded like a pop song that had come out just before the whole angel business, bouncy and cheerful. Sam found himself humming along as he tried to determine where it’s coming from and forced himself to stop.

            This whole area used to be mostly small, artsy shops, which means large windows on the front. He peered through them as he paced by, trying to catch a glimpse of the singer. Eventually he determined that it was coming from a little blue-fronted shop that might have been a bakery. The door was cracked open slightly, and he approached it carefully.

            Knife held ready in one hand, he tried to quietly push open the door with the other. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about the bells shops like this usually had on their doors. It jingled cheerfully, alerting whoever was in the shop to his presence as if he’d announced it himself. The singing stopped, and Sam decided he might as well speed this up a bit.

            “Hello?” He called, hoping that whoever it was wouldn’t attack him. It wasn’t unlikely.

            There was an open backpack laying on the floor, but he couldn’t see anyone, and for a moment he thought the shop might be empty. Then a light-haired man poked his head carefully through the door leading to the back. He looked Sam up and down, noting the knife, but didn’t seem very concerned about it.

            “You won’t need that. I’ll promise to be civil if you can,” he said after a moment of silence.

            Sam tucked his knife into his belt, making sure he could easily pull it out again if he needed to. “What are you doing?”

            “I’m looking for food? Duh.” The man was looking at him as if he wasn’t very bright, which Sam didn’t think was entirely fair. He wasn’t the one who had been singing loud enough for anyone passing through the neighborhood to hear.

            “You were singing,” he said. It wasn’t the best explanation, now that he said it out loud.

            He couldn’t see the man very well, since he hadn’t come out of the back room yet, but Sam thought he shrugged. “It’s quiet here. Everyone seems to have cleared out. What are you still doing here?”

            Sam debated whether he should answer that for a moment before deciding, why not. This man might have seen something. “I’m looking for my brother.”

            “No one’s been through here in the past couple of days,” the man said.

            “He was taken by angels,” Sam explained. “Do you know where they might have taken him?”

            The man frowned. “They took him? Why?”

            Sam threw up his hands. “I don’t know! Why do angels do anything?”

            “Good point.” The man nodded slowly. “Look, I can’t promise anything, but I might be able to help you find your brother. Just – keep the weapons where they are, ok? Let’s not freak out.”

            “What,” Sam began, but he cut off as the man stepped out of the back room. Now that he wasn’t hidden behind a mostly closed door, Sam could see the large, golden wings on his back. He started to reach for his knife automatically, but stopped himself. “Why would you want to help me against other angels?”

            The angel looked relieved that Sam wasn’t attacking him. “The other angels and I aren’t exactly on the best terms right now. I’m kind of in hiding.”

            “Why? What did you do?” Sam asked. Reluctantly, he admitted to himself that having an angel on his side would be really useful. But there had to be a reason the other angels didn’t like this one, and he wasn’t about to get stabbed in the back before he got a chance to find Dean.

            “Let’s just say that I was a bit too fond of Earth,” the angel said. “The big bosses weren’t happy with that, and I had to run away.”

            Sam drummed his fingers against his leg, considering. Although it went against everything he had been taught, both during the apocalypse and before, he wanted to trust the angel. At the moment, it seemed to be the only real chance he had of finding Dean. He took a deep breath and let it out again.

            “Ok. Tell me where to find my brother.”

           


	2. Chapter 2

            Dean was getting really bored. After flying for several hours, the angels had landed on the upper floor of what seemed to have once been a fancy hotel, flying right in through a hole in the wall. He’d been left in one of the rooms about thirty minutes ago, and so far nothing was happening.

            At least it was a nice room. The bed was big and soft and there was running water in the bathroom. If he hadn’t been on edge waiting for the angels to come back, Dean would have been sorely tempted to use the enormous bath. Running water was a rarity these days, and he could hardly remember the last time he’d had a real bath instead of a quick scrub with a wet cloth.

            There was a large window taking up most of one wall. It didn’t open, but since the room was at least fifteen floors up he probably wouldn’t be using that as an exit anyway. He’d searched the room thoroughly as soon as he’d arrived, but had found nothing that could be used as a weapon. He’d dropped his knife back when he’d been snatched, and his gun had been taken away as soon as they landed, so he wasn’t going to be fighting any angels for now.

            He’d tried opening the door earlier, but the brown winged angel guarding it hadn’t wanted to talk, and had simply given him increasingly menacing glares coupled with threatening sword motions until Dean closed the door again.

            For the moment, he appeared to be well and truly stuck.

 

            “First things first, what’s your name?” The angel asked.

            “I’m Sam,” he answered cautiously. It didn’t particularly matter with angels, but he’d had a lifetime of being told to be careful about letting supernatural creatures know his name.

            “Nice to meet you. I’m Gabriel.”

            Sam frowned. “As in, the _archangel_?” Like basically everyone else in the world, he’d seen the video all the news stations had played over and over before everything had completely gone down the drain – shaky cellphone footage of the golden winged archangel being gunned down over the ruins of Jerusalem. “Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”

            “It takes a lot more than a few bullets to take down an archangel, Sammy,” Gabriel said. “Luckily for me, none of the others bothered to check if I was actually dead.”

            “Don’t call me that,” Sam said sharply. Gabriel raised an eyebrow at his tone, but didn’t comment on it.

            “Anyway, back to your brother,” Gabriel said. “If he was important enough to get snatched, he was probably taken back to the eyrie.”

            “The what?” Sam asked.

            “Basically our home base for this part of the earth,” Gabriel explained. “It’s in Chicago. Not too far by flying, but it’ll take some time for us to walk there.”

            “You want to come with me?” Sam asked.

            “What, you think you can just walk in there, grab your brother, and walk out? You’re going to need a lot of help, kiddo,” Gabriel said.

            Sam scowled briefly at that, but he knew Gabriel was probably right. That didn’t mean he had to like it.

            “I hope you have your own supplies, because I only have enough for one,” Sam said. A thought occurred to him. “Do angels even need food?”

            “We can survive without it much longer than humans, but that would be just as uncomfortable for us as it would be for you guys,” Gabriel explained. “I have enough supplies to last me a while, don’t worry. I won’t steal your stuff just yet.”

            Sam decided that was probably a joke. He gestured toward the door. “Lead the way, I guess.”

 

            “What do the angels want with Earth anyway?” Sam asked, more to say something than because he actually expected an answer. They had been walking for almost an hour and the silence was starting to get on his nerves.

            Gabriel shrugged. “Our bosses don’t tell us very much,” he said. “They get told what to do, and then they tell everyone else.”

            “Told by who?” Sam asked curiously.

            “God, apparently,” Gabriel said dismissively.

            “Seriously?” Sam wasn’t sure why he was surprised, seeing as angels were literally walking – well, mostly flying – the earth. But somehow the idea of God actually giving the order for all this to happen didn’t seem very believable. “Wait, what do you mean, ‘apparently’?”

            Gabriel frowned. “He doesn’t talk to most of us. Certain angels get his orders, and communicate them to the rest of us.”

            “So you just trust that what they’re telling you is actually what God said?” Sam asked skeptically.

            “Well, it must be true if they say it, right?” Gabriel smiled mockingly. “Angels have to have faith, Samsquatch. Disobeying isn’t an option.”

            Sam wanted to ask more, but Gabriel’s tone made it clear he was done talking about it, so he changed topics. “What’s with the nicknames?”

            Gabriel shrugged again. The motion made the late afternoon sun glint off his wings. In this light they looked like they were made of metal instead of feathers. Sam wondered what they would feel like if he touched them, then mentally shook himself. _Not the time,_ he told himself firmly.

            “I have to call you something, don’t I?” Gabriel was saying.

            “How about my actual name?” Sam suggested.

            The angel seemed to consider it for a moment, then shook his head. “Nah. That’s boring.”

 

            Dean was almost glad when the angel showed up in his room. The sooner he could figure out what these feathery dicks wanted from him, the sooner he could leave. It wasn’t the guard from earlier. This angel was slightly smaller, with black wings instead of brown.

            “Are the accommodations to your liking?” His voice was rough, not exactly what Dean would expect from an angel.

            “Sure, I just love being locked in a hotel room with no one to talk to besides Grumpy Wings over there,” Dean said, gesturing at the door.

            “This is for your own safety,” the angel told him seriously.

            “Funny, I thought it would be safer to be as far away from angels as possible,” Dean snapped. “So if you could just drop me off back where I came from, that would be great.”

            “I can’t do that, Dean. You have an important role to play,” the angel said.

            “How do you know my name?” Dean demanded.

           “Most angels have heard of you. Also, I heard your brother shout it at you.” Now that he mentioned it, Dean recognized the angel who had pointed him out yesterday.

            “What’s your name, then?” Dean asked.

            “I am Castiel,” the angel said.

            “Alright, Castiel. If I’m going to be staying here, could you at least get me some food?” Dean asked.

            Castiel nodded and turned to leave. “I will have some sent to you.”

Dean wondered briefly if that meant his door would be unguarded, before deciding to wait until he could find a better opportunity. Or until after he’d showered, because that bathroom looked _really_ nice right now.

           

            Sam and Gabriel eventually stopped for the night in an abandoned office building. Gabriel had wanted to camp in one of the nicer houses on the next street over, but Sam argued that other people would be more likely to go to those as well.

            The angel snorted at that. “I think I’d be able to take a couple of humans, even if I had to cover your butt at the same time.”

            “I can protect myself just fine too,” Sam sighed. “But I’d rather not have to deal with it.”

            He still didn’t trust Gabriel all the way, and between worrying about the angel and keeping watch, he wasn’t expecting to get much sleep. Having to fight off looters on top of all that would be too much right now.

            Gabriel wandered into the office building to check it out, Sam following a few paces behind him. They settled on staying in the break room, since it had a couch and Sam was getting really tired of sleeping on the floor.

            “There’s only one couch,” Gabriel pointed out. “Are we going to share, or what?” The amount of suggestive tone in that short sentence was really unnecessary, not to mention that it wasn’t very angelic.

            “No need. We can take turns keeping watch,” Sam said, going to investigate the cabinets and minifridge on one side of the room. “Hey, look!”

            He turned to hold up a half empty pack of crackers and a bag of chocolates. His companion’s face lit up at the sight of the chocolate.

            “You’re my new favorite human,” he announced.

            “My life’s purpose has been achieved,” Sam said, rolling his eyes. He couldn’t help the grin breaking out at the angel’s enthusiasm.

            “No, really. I’m pretty sure I’ve been dying of sweet deprivation.” To illustrate his point, Gabriel collapsed onto the couch with a loud groan.

            “Didn’t I find you in a bakery?” Sam joined him on the couch, carefully opening the package of chocolates so he didn’t spill any. The crackers he tossed on top of his bag.

            “That was _forever_ ago,” Gabriel groaned. “Anyway, they only had stale cupcakes and melted ice cream. That hardly counts.”

            Sam pulled out a chocolate and handed it to Gabriel before popping one in his own mouth. He let out an involuntary noise of pleasure at the taste. Normally, he wasn’t all that attached to candy. But after living the past few weeks on a diet of whatever he and Dean could scavenge from supermarkets and gas stations, any kind of luxury tasted amazing. Reluctantly, he put the package in his bag and dug around for some actual food.

            Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Gabriel pouting. “We should probably eat some real food before we fill up on chocolate. Chicago’s a long way away,” Sam explained.

            “Chocolate is good for energy,” Gabriel said hopefully.

            “Yeah, no.” The food he and Dean had been able to scrounge wasn’t much better. After digging around in hopes of finding something better, he settled on beef jerky and the crackers he’d found in the cabinet.

            “And this is much better?” Gabriel asked, voicing Sam’s thoughts.

            “If you have anything better, feel free to get it out,” Sam said.

            Gabriel searched through his own backpack. “Hmm…nope. Wait, I think I have some dried fruit.”

            “Really?” Sam had rarely been able to find any kind of fruit in the stores he’d searched with Dean when they were looking for food. It seemed to be one of the first things people went for when they looted a store.

            Gabriel pulled out a plastic package and shook some yellow squares onto his hand, then passed the package to Sam. Inspecting it, he discovered that it contained dried pineapple. He took a small handful and passed it back. Taking a bite, he was surprised by the sweetness. Then again, given how the angel had acted about the candy, it wasn’t that unexpected that his other food would be this sweet. Altogether, it wasn’t the worst meal he’d had in the past few weeks.

            “I’ll take first watch,” Sam offered after they finished.

            “You don’t have to do that. I don’t need much sleep; I can watch the whole night if you want,” Gabriel said.

            “I’d feel better if I could take a turn myself,” Sam said. The words _because I’m not sure I trust you_ were unsaid, but Gabriel seemed to understand, because he didn’t push it.

            The angel glanced at the clock on the wall. It seemed to be working, although Sam wasn’t entirely sure if the time was right. “You can wake me up around twelve.”

            Sam nodded. The angel settled onto the couch, using his bundled jacket for a pillow, and appeared to fall asleep almost immediately. Sam checked that his weapons were in place before wandering into the front room to make sure no one was outside.

            The street remained just as empty as earlier. Sam wasn’t sure if it was really necessary to keep watch. There didn’t seem to be many people left in the town, and the few who would brave wandering around at night probably wouldn’t be coming to this area, which was mostly identical looking businesses. The town hopefully wasn’t big enough to attract angels, and they weren’t likely to come into a building like this either.

            Nothing happened, thankfully, and after several quiet hours Sam went to wake Gabriel. He tried to be careful about it, since he didn’t want to be thrown through the wall by a startled angel, but he needn’t have worried. Gabriel simply sat up, patted the couch invitingly, and went to take Sam’s place in the front room.

            The couch was a bit small for Sam, requiring him to curl up so his feet weren’t hanging over the arm. It was hard to get to sleep at first, but that was due to the cold in the building rather than worry over Gabriel’s presence. Exhausted as he was, he couldn’t bring himself to fret over it. As he finally started to drift off despite his shivering, he felt something pleasantly warm settle over his shoulders. He was asleep before he could really wonder about it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, I actually managed to write something on schedule! Feel free to comment if you liked it, or if you didn't. I love hearing what you guys think.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the late post. This chapter was giving me a bunch of trouble for some reason. As always, comments are appreciated. I like knowing what you guys think of my stuff!

            When Sam woke up, the warm feeling was still there, confusing him slightly. He was pretty sure he hadn’t gotten his blanket out of his bag, since he mostly used that as padding when he had to sleep on the ground. When he opened his eyes, he found a jacket draped over his shoulders, keeping out the worst of the chill. Gabriel’s jacket.

            He sat up, looking around for the angel, and found him lounging against the wall next to the door. When he noticed Sam’s gaze, he smiled innocently. “Sleep well? You seemed a bit cold.”

            “Thanks,” Sam mumbled after a moment, not sure how to respond. He balled up Gabriel’s jacket and tossed it at him. “We should probably get going.”

            According to the clock on the wall, it was almost nine, which meant he’d slept later than he wanted to. In order to save time, their breakfasts consisted of a couple of granola bars that they ate as they walked. Gabriel did not seem to be a big fan of all this walking.

            “This would be much faster if you could fly,” he said after he’d finished his granola bar.

            “Sorry to disappoint you,” Sam said. “You could always go back to whatever you were doing before.”

            Gabriel shrugged. “This is a lot more interesting than wandering around avoiding other angels. Anyway, what kind of guide would I be if I abandoned you before you even reached the city?”

            “I’m sure I could handle myself,” Sam said, feeling mildly insulted. He had been a hunter for most of his life without an angel following him around, and had done just fine.

            “Against at least a hundred angels?” Gabriel asked dubiously. “Good luck with that, kid. You wouldn’t even get close.”

            “And how would you be much help, against that many angels?” Sam challenged.

            “Aside from the fact that I’m quite a bit stronger than you, I know ways to sneak us in without having to fight,” Gabriel said, winking conspiratorially.

            “…Right. I guess that would be useful,” Sam admitted.

            “Of course it would. I’m the most useful angel around, Sam-a-lam.”

           

            After several hours, Sam came to the conclusion that ‘useful’ was not the best adjective to describe Gabriel. Not when there were words like ‘loud’, ‘annoying’, or ‘doesn’t know when to stop singing’ available.

            After spending a good hour asking Sam questions about his life as a hunter, or what his favorite food was, or what he thought of that weird looking tree over there, he’d gotten bored and stopped for a few minutes. Sam had been grateful for that, until Gabriel decided to entertain himself as they walked with badly sung renditions of various pop songs which Sam wasn’t going to admit to recognizing. It wasn’t that Gabriel had a bad singing voice; it was actually rather nice. No, the problem here was that he apparently didn’t know most of the lyrics, and replaced them either with random syllables or observations on what Sam was doing, all to the tune of whatever song he was currently attempting to sing.

            Although he knew it wouldn’t do jack shit, Sam was kind of considering shooting the angel if it would shut him up for a minute or two. He supposes starting a conversation might work, but that would require him actually talking to his companion.

“We’re supposed to be sneaking up on these angels, right?”

            “Yeah. Why?” Gabriel asked.

            “Because I’m pretty sure they can hear your singing in California, and that makes it kind of hard to sneak anywhere,” Sam told him.

            “Are you trying to say you don’t like my singing?” Gabriel looked like Sam had just admitted that he enjoyed kicking puppies in his spare time.

            Sam closed his eyes, took a breath, and opened them again. _Count to ten, Sam._ “How about you wait until we need some angels scared away, and try singing then,” he suggested.

            “Wow, rude. I thought we were friends,” Gabriel said.

            “I wouldn’t go that far,” Sam said. “Maybe acquaintances.”

            Gabriel sighed heavily and shook his head, still looking unnecessarily sad about it. Sam wasn’t buying that, but at least it Gabriel was pouting he wasn’t singing loudly enough to announce their position to everything within a three mile radius. Weren’t angels supposed to be dignified or something?

 

            The next town they reached seemed unusually populated. Before they even reached the first building, Sam counted at least five people moving around on the street. Frowning, he ducked behind an ornamental sign welcoming him to Oak Springs. Gabriel followed, wings tucked away tightly so they wouldn’t show around the sign.

            “Does this seem weird to you?” Sam asked.

            “A bunch of people running around in broad daylight when all the towns around here have been hit hard? No, not at all,” Gabriel said sarcastically.

            “That’s what I thought too,” Sam said. “I’m going to check it out. You should find somewhere to hide while I go in. You’re not exactly inconspicuous.”

            “I’ll come too. This looks interesting,” Gabriel replied.

            “How are you-“ Sam began, and stopped. The angel’s whole body seemed to shiver, while his bright wings faded away like morning fog. He gave a couple of shrugs as though adjusting a backpack, then turned to smile at Sam.

            “Just like that.”

            “If you could do that the whole time, why have you had your wings out the whole time?” Sam asked.

            “It’s not exactly comfortable, and I can’t take off suddenly. Also, I like to think that my wings make me look dashing,” Gabriel said, winking.

            “I’m…not going to comment on that,” Sam said. “Let’s go check out this town.”

            They ducked out from behind the sign and walked into the town, looking around cautiously. Sam held his gun ready in one hand, but so far there wasn’t anything to use it on. The people they’d seen earlier seemed to have disappeared somewhere while the pair had been talking.

            “This just keeps looking better,” Sam said.

            “Maybe they’re just really cautious?” Gabriel suggested. “They don’t know who we are or what we want, after all.”

            “I hope so.” A thought occurred to Sam, and he glanced at Gabriel. “Can all angels do that thing you did, hiding your wings?”

            “Yeah, but I can’t think of any reason for them to wander around an empty town impersonating humans,” he answered.

            “Because they’re bored? I don’t know. I can’t think of any reason for them to snatch random people off the street either,” Sam said.

            They rounded a corner, and found a small group of people standing there. They didn’t say anything, staring at the two of them without moving.

            “That’s more than a little creepy,” Sam muttered. He raised his voice to address them. “Hello. We don’t mean any trouble. We’re just moving through.”

            “Not many people passing through here these days,” the man standing in front of the group said. “Where’re you headed?”

            “Nowhere in particular,” Sam lied.

            “How about you stop along with us for a while? We’ve got food to spare,” the man offered.

            Sam looked at Gabriel. “What do you think?”

            Gabriel didn’t answer for a moment. His head was tilted to the side, and he was squinting slightly at the group. “I don’t know. We should probably get moving.”

            “What’s your hurry? You said you weren’t going anywhere important.” Behind the man, his companions shifted in ways that looked almost coincidental, except for the fact that they all managed to reveal weapons tucked under their coats.

            The whole thing was looking more and more like a trap, and Sam really didn’t want to see what happened when it was sprung.

            “We’ve got some friends waiting for us outside of town,” he lied. Because he couldn’t exactly say ‘you guys are creepy and probably going to kill us’. That would either cause them to attack faster, or it would turn out they were just normal weird people and it would be uncomfortable for everyone involved.

            “They’re going to be waiting for a long time, then,” the man said. His eyes flashed black, and Sam cursed.

            He had salt rounds with him, of course, but they were at the bottom of his bag. They didn’t work on angels, and he hadn’t been expecting to run into any other supernatural creatures along the way. Shouldn’t demons be hiding if there were angels around? It seemed logical.

            He also should probably stop thinking about things like this while he was in danger. While he was distracted, the demons lunged toward him and Gabriel. Sam barely dodged out of the way, backing away quickly to get room for shooting.

            His first shots hit the leading demon in the chest, making it stumble back. He aimed for the second one, but it smacked his arm away, making the shot go wide. Before he could shoot again, the demon was on him, aiming a punch at his face. Sam dodged to the side and responded with a knee to its stomach. It gagged, and Sam used the moment of respite to drop his gun and pull his knife out of his belt, swiping at the demon’s throat.

            By then it had recovered enough to dodge back, and he only caught it a glancing blow. It snarled and lunged at him again, knocking him to the ground. He brought his knife up, trying to stab it, but it grabbed his arm, twisting it in an attempt to make him drop the knife. He held on as tightly as he could, trying to bring it closer to the demon’s throat.

            It switched tactics and tried to force the knife down toward him with both hands, sitting up on its knees over him to gain more leverage. Sam gritted his teeth and pushed back, bringing his other hand up to push against the one holding the knife.

            Abruptly, the pressure stopped as the demon slumped down on top of him like a puppet with its strings cut. Looking up, he saw Gabriel standing over him, sword buried in the demon’s back. Sam pushed it off him with a grunt and scrambled to his feet. Two of the other demons were sprawled on the sidewalk around them.

            “Thanks. What happened to the other demon?” He leaned down to pick up his gun from where it had fallen, looking over it to make sure it wasn’t damaged.

            “It got away while I was getting your sorry ass out of trouble,” Gabriel said grumpily.

            “I had it handled,” Sam protested.

            “Yeah, sure,” Gabriel said. Sam scowled at him, and the angel rolled his eyes in response. “We should get going. It probably went to find more of its buddies.”

            “That sounds like a good idea,” Sam agreed. They left the town by the same route they had come from, making sure to get well out of sight before curving back to skirt around it.

            “That was a lot of demons to have in one place.” Gabriel looked unusually serious.

            “Yeah, tell me about it. Maybe the whole apocalypse thing stirred them up?” Sam guessed. “Although, come to think of it, we haven’t really seen _any_ monsters since this whole mess started.”

            “I couldn’t sense any of them until they attacked. It was like something was hiding them,” Gabriel said. His wings had reappeared about twenty minutes after they left the town, and they were twitching agitatedly while he spoke.

            “Can’t they hide themselves?” Sam asked. “They had normal looking eyes until then.”

            “Even regular angels can sense demons, even when they’re acting normal. Those were low level demons. They shouldn’t have been able to hide themselves from me.”

            “You’re saying something was hiding them from you? What could do that?” Sam wondered.

            “Not many things, as far as I know. Whatever it is, I don’t like it.” Gabriel went quiet after that, and they walked in silence for a while.

            Sam didn’t like this either. He had no idea how powerful Gabriel was, but he was getting the idea that he was a good bit stronger than most angels. Considering what regular angels were like, that was a lot of power in a guy that short. If something was strong enough to unnerve him like that, Sam didn’t want to meet it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty much just randomly smashing together angel lore from the two universes, if you were wondering. There's not much reason to some of it except 'this sounds cool so I'll do it'.   
> Also, fight scenes are hard and I don't know how to write them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry about how long this took, but I hope you enjoy it. I'm pretty tired right now, so I apologize for any typos there might be.

            A careful knock on the door announced Castiel’s arrival. Dean wasn’t sure why the angel kept visiting, but he wasn’t going to argue. He’d almost begun to look forward to these visits, not that he would ever admit that. At least Cas talked to him. If the other angels thought he was important, they certainly weren’t going out of their way to show it. It had only been a few days, and he was already going kind of stir-crazy in here.

            “Come in,” he called. After the second time the angel had walked in on him getting dressed, Dean had insisted that he learned how to knock.

            Cas entered, looking exactly like he had the last four times. Dean wondered if he owned a bunch of the same outfit, or if angels just didn’t get dirty like people. “Hello Dean.”

            “Hey, Cas, looking good. Did you get a new coat?” He joked.

            Cas frowned. “No, this is my only coat. How are you?”

            “Not bad, considering.” Dean shrugged. “It’d be nice to go outside or something. This room is neat, but there’s only so many times a guy can read the same magazines.”   

            “I can take you to the roof, if you want. It’s safe enough, and if it is for your wellbeing no one should complain about it.”

            Dean blinked, surprised. “Really? That would be – that sounds great.”

            It wasn’t like he could escape from there, but just getting out of this room sounded really good right now. He was kind of amazed Cas had made the offer. Although he hadn’t seen much of the other angels, he was getting the sense that Cas was unusual.

            “Come on.” Cas opened the door, took a moment to tell the guard where they were going, then waved for Dean to follow.

            Dean kind of expected them to head for the elevator a few doors down, but instead Cas headed for the other end of the hall, where an empty window frame took up the entirety of the far wall, opening directly into the air.

            He frowned at it. “Wouldn’t it be easier to take the elevator? I’m not a great climber.”

            “This is faster,” Cas said. He looked Dean up and down for a moment, seeming to come to some kind of conclusion.

            Stepping closer, he wrapped an arm around Dean, pulling him close. Before he could say anything, Cas turned and stepped out of the window as easily as if he were walking down the hall. Dean closed his eyes instinctively, expecting his weight to drag the smaller man down, but he had forgotten about Cas’s angelic strength.

            When it became clear that they weren’t falling, he opened his eyes again, looking around. Seeing the ground that far away with nothing under his feet was just as unsettling as it had been the first time, but this time he wasn’t worried about his ride dropping him. On either side of them, Cas’s wings beat firmly, keeping them in the air easily.

            The flight was over almost as soon as it began. Dean’s room was on the floor below the top one, so they didn’t have far to go. When they landed, Cas held on long enough to make sure Dean was balanced before stepping away.

            “Normally I would ask someone to buy me dinner before getting that close,” Dean joked. He was proud to notice that his voice sounded a lot steadier than he felt.

            “If you are hungry, I will buy you dinner when we return,” Cas said. He sounded serious, but Dean thought the corner of his mouth twitched for a moment.

            “Cas, did you just make a joke?” He asked, feigning amazement.

            “Angels never joke,” he replied.

            “Could’ve fooled me.” Dean took a careful step closer to the edge, taking in the view. This building was easily the tallest in the area, and with the clear weather he could see for miles. This part of the city looked mostly intact from here, and he could almost pretend he was somewhere back before all this had started.

            “Thanks, Cas,” he said. They stayed there for a long time, looking out at the city together.

 

            In the two days since Sam and Gabriel had stumbled onto the demon-occupied town, the trip had been rather uneventful. They had left the last town several hours ago, and had seen only a few isolated houses since then. The sun had set a little while ago, coloring the landscape with blue shadows that made it hard to see where they were going.

            “I think we should stop,” Sam said after he tripped over an unseen pothole for the third time in as many minutes.

            Gabriel muttered something about human eyesight. “If you have to,” he said out loud. “Do you want to go a bit farther, see if there’s a house nearby?”

            “We haven’t seen any houses for at least thirty minutes. We can set up camp in the trees over there.” Sam gestured to a spot where the trees that lined the road on one side seemed to be closer together.

            “Looks cozy.” Gabriel led the way, walking as easily as he would in full daylight, while Sam picked along more cautiously behind him.

            “How well can angels see in the dark?” He asked. That would be important, when he was trying to sneak past them.

            “Pretty well. We still need some light, but a lot less than you do. This is only slightly dim for me,” Gabriel answered.

            “Good to know,” Sam mumbled.

            The band of trees turned out to be only a few yards wide, but they were close enough together that the two of them should be hard to see from the road, and anything flying by shouldn’t be able to see them from above. Sam decided it was good enough for him, and shrugged his backpack off.

            Setting up camp was easy enough, since they didn’t need a fire. The night was warm, and most of their food didn’t need cooking. Once their blankets were rolled out, Sam sat down on his to eat a granola bar.

            “So, what’s the plan for when we get there?” He asked between bites.

            Gabriel shrugged. “I sneak us both in. We hope we can figure out where your brother is and that whoever guarding him isn’t too tough. Then we run like hell, and if we’re very lucky they won’t notice he’s gone until we get out.”

            “And how are we going to sneak into a building completely filled with angels?” Sam asked, a little skeptical.

            “Well,” Gabriel said, grinning, “how fast do you think we can find some fancy clothes that would fit your freakishly tall moose body?”

            Sam didn’t know what the angel was planning, but he was pretty sure that he wouldn’t like whatever it was. “I have no idea. It’s not like I regularly go around stealing clothes.”

            “We can figure something out. There’s still time,” Gabriel said.

            “Right. Um, I can take the first watch if you want,” Sam offered after a moment.

            “No offense, kid, but you look dead on your feet. I’ll watch, and you can get some sleep,” Gabriel ordered.

            He wanted to argue with that, but he really was tired. Several days of doing almost nothing but walking were taking it out of him. He muttered a quick goodnight and rolled up in his blankets. His last thought before he fell asleep was to wonder when he started trusting Gabriel like this.

 

            The next thing he knew, he was blinking awake in the early morning sunlight. He sat up quickly, looking around. Gabriel was sitting against a tree a few feet away, poking at the dirt with a stick. When he noticed Sam looking at him, he gave a small wave.

            “Morning, sleeping beauty,” he said cheerfully.

            Sam frowned at him. “Why didn’t you wake me up for my turn?”

            “I told you last night, you looked like you needed the sleep,” Gabriel said.

            “And you didn’t?” Sam wasn’t sure why that was the first argument that popped into his head, but it came out before he could think about it.

            “Hello, angel?” Gabriel said, rolling his eyes. “I need a lot less sleep than you. In fact, I’m probably better rested than you’ve been the past few days.”

            There didn’t seem to be any way Sam could argue with that, so he gave up. “I’m taking a turn again tonight,” he said instead.

            “If you want,” Gabriel said, sounding amused.

            They shared some of Gabriel’s dried fruit for breakfast before they packed up their camp and prepared to head on. In the daylight it was easier to see how little of anything there was along the road. On one side was the narrow strand of trees, and on the other there was an open field with what looked like a building in the distance. Ahead of them the road gradually curved up into a hill.

            “Any idea how much farther we have left to go?” Sam asked as they started walking.

            Gabriel shrugged. “A few more days? Definitely less than a week.”

            “Thanks. That was very helpful,” Sam sighed.

            “I live to please,” Gabriel replied cheerfully. “You know, I feel like they could have put their base somewhere better.”

            “Yeah, not on earth,” Sam said.

            “No – well, yeah, but that’s not what I meant.”

            “Where would you put it then?”

            “Los Angeles,” Gabriel announced proudly.

            Sam stopped walking and gave Gabriel his best unimpressed glare. “No.”

            “Aw, Samsquatch, you’re just jealous you didn’t think of it first.”

            “Terrible jokes aside, we’re about as far away from Los Angeles as we could be,” Sam pointed out.

            “I guess you’re lucky the rest of them don’t have my wonderful sense of humor then,” Gabriel said.

            “I don’t even want to imagine that,” Sam said with an exaggerated shudder. “Angels destroying everything _and_ making bad jokes? Humanity wouldn’t have a chance.”

            After that, the conversation fell into a lull, and they walked in easy silence for a while. Sam glanced at Gabriel, admiring the way the low yellow light made his wings shine. When they caught the light, like they did now, they were almost too bright to look at.

            He probably shouldn’t keep staring at the other man, but he couldn’t help looking at his wings every so often. It was curiosity, he told himself. After all, it wasn’t like he regularly hung around with angels, and Gabriel’s wings were a lot more impressive than the other angels he’d seen. They seemed like they should be too big for his short frame, but somehow they fit him.

            The angel looked over as though he could sense Sam’s gaze on him. Their eyes met for a brief moment, and Sam quickly turned his gaze back to the road ahead of him.

            _No more staring at the pretty angel, Sam,_ he told himself firmly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, that joke had to be made. I swear I was trying to write a serious story, but it kind of got a life of its own.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter and also for being super late. I was in Florida without my laptop last week, and I've been having the worst writers block. I'll try to make up for it next update, but I hope you enjoy this anyway.

Dean and Cas visited the roof a lot after that first time. It was quiet, with only the sound of the wind and the occasional angel passing over to keep them company. Of course, Dean’s room was quiet too, but being on the roof made him feel a little less trapped. The room was much larger and nicer than the motel rooms he and Sam used to stay in when they traveled, but being surrounded by the same four walls for days was making him feel like a caged animal.

            He sat on the very edge of the roof, legs swinging gently, Cas a comfortingly warm presence at his side. In other circumstances the height would have made him nervous, but his perch was secure, and even if it wasn’t he had complete faith in his angel’s ability to catch him.

            It felt like he had known Cas for a lot longer than the few days since he had been brought here. Part of that was due to how slowly the days seemed to be passing; with very little to occupy himself, the hours between Cas’s visits seemed to last an age. But mostly, it was the way Cas just fit, the two of them slipping into an easy kind of closeness almost without noticing.

            Dean almost regretted having to leave Cas when he finally figured out how to escape. But before he figured that out, he had to figure out what the angels wanted.

            “Why am I here, Cas?” He asked it casually, looking out at the puffy clouds on the horizon instead of at Cas’s face. From the corner of his eye, he could see Cas glance at him before quickly focusing on the sky again.

“You asked me to accompany you to the roof, so we went,” Cas said, trying for a casual tone.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” Dean turned to look at him fully. “What do the other angels want from me?"

There was a pause before Cas spoke, long enough that Dean was starting to think he wouldn’t answer. “We have known how the world was supposed to end practically since it began. The archangel Michael will fight the final battle against Lucifer, and when he wins there will be – paradise. Forever.”

“That’s a fascinating story, Cas, but what does that have to do with anything?” Dean interrupted.

“I am getting to that,” Cas said. “Currently, Michael has not yet descended to earth. Until he does, Lucifer will not rise and the battle will not begin.”

“What’s stopping them? The world’s fucked already, what’s one more battle on top of that?” Dean asked bitterly.

“Michael cannot appear on earth without a vessel,” Cas said, as though that explained it. It didn’t.

“A what?”

“Most angels use a body that serves as a kind of physical manifestation of their form, but they can also possess a human if they choose to,” he explained. “Michael is immensely powerful. Walking the earth in his true form would cause … disastrous consequences. Because of his power, he would burn through most human vessels in a matter of minutes. However, a few humans from certain bloodlines are able to withstand this and serve as his vessel for as long as needs them to.”

Dean had a sneaking suspicion he knew where this was going. “Are you saying I’m-“

“You are one of those humans, yes,” Cas confirmed.

“So why hasn’t he jumped my bones yet? Seems like you guys are pretty eager to get this show on the road,” Dean said, looking around like Michael would be hiding behind the air-conditioning unit.

“He’s not a demon, Dean,” Cas said. He sounded almost insulted. “Angels require permission before they can possess someone.”

“Okay, but that still leaves pretty much the same question. Why wait this long? Why hasn’t anyone mentioned it?” Dean asked.

“There is some division among the Host over this issue. A small but influential portion believe our orders were incorrect and that we should not be attempting to begin the battle yet.”

“I thought your orders came straight from God,” Dean said, confused.

“Not directly. Certain angels receive the orders and relay them to the rest of us.” Cas fidgeted with his trench coat, trying to make it lay perfectly flat against the roof between them. “Some angels are accusing the messengers of misinterpreting or entirely fabricating God’s orders to further their own agenda.”

“What side are you on?” He probably didn’t want to hear the answer, but he couldn’t help asking.

Cas considered for a long moment. “I am…not sure where I stand, at the moment.” He sighed. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you any of this, but I believe you have a right to know.”

“Thanks, Cas. I appreciate it,” Dean said, for lack of anything better to say.

“Of course.” He gave a small smile, and Dean couldn’t help returning it.

 

            As they approached the city, the road slowly became more crowded with abandoned cars. Gabriel quickly became tired of trying to pick his way through the cars, which had been parked haphazardly with no regard to lanes or traffic rules when their owners left them, and decided to walk next to the road instead. Sam wondered briefly if he should try searching some of the cars for useful things, but decided it probably wouldn’t be worth the effort and followed the angel off the road.

            “Unless something goes seriously wrong, we’ll reach the eyrie by this evening,” Gabriel announced.

            “So what’s the plan? Is there some kind of back entrance we can sneak into?” Sam asked.

            Gabriel grinned, and Sam decided that he probably wouldn’t like whatever plan he’d come up with. “Not quite. One of the bosses decided we should try getting the humans on their side by showing them how nice things will be after our side wins, which for him apparently means throwing a party and inviting a couple humans every now and then. Personally, I think he just likes partying, but-“

            “Wait, hang on,” Sam interrupted. “What do you mean by ‘when your side wins’?”

            “That’s kind of a long story, and I don’t want to waste time explaining angel politics to you.” Sam made an insulted noise at that, but Gabriel waved it off and continued. “The fast version is basically this: Heaven and Hell are supposed to battle it out, and some angels think we shouldn’t be trying to start the big prizefight just yet. The side that thinks we should want to get the humans to agree with them to show the others why they’re wrong about the apocalypse being bad.”

            Sam took a moment to try and figure that out. “Okay, but what does all that have to do with me sneaking in there and getting Dean?”

            “Humans get invited to this party, Sammich. The party that’s _in the eyrie_.” Sam _oh_ -ed at that, and Gabriel pointed at him. “Exactly. Then once you’re in, all you have to do is sneak past a couple dozen angels, find Dean, get past his guard, and get back out without being noticed. Easy-peasy!”

            Sam snorted and shook his head. “So how do I get invited?”

            “That’s the simplest part,” Gabriel said lightly. “I’ll say you’re my plus one.”

            “Aren’t you kind of in hiding from the other angels?” Sam reminded him. That seemed like kind of a big flaw in their plan.

            “Psh. Not all of them, just the group that wants to start the end of the world.” He spread his hands and shrugged. “Which just happens to be most of them. We’ll just hope that the guard on duty is someone who agrees with me.”

            “And if they’re not?” Sam asked.

            Gabriel swatted his arm. “Then we improvise. Stop being so negative, you’ll make me realize what a bad idea this is.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? I'm actually updating on time. Hope you like it! Feel free to leave a comment if you did.

“There it is,” Gabriel announced.

            Sam turned to look. The building he was pointing at was several blocks down and a street over, just visible over the smaller buildings that surrounded it. Small figures, which Sam assumed were angels, hovered in the air around it. From the corner of his eye, he saw Gabriel give the strange shiver that meant he was tucking away his wings.

            Slightly concerned, he turned back to his companion. “Can they see us from here?”

            “Not very clearly, but shiny gold wings tend to show up even at a distance.” Gabriel sighed heavily. “The price I have to pay for looking this good.”

            Sam grinned and rolled his eyes. “So what’s the plan now?”

            “If I’m right, which I normally am, there should be somewhere close by where we can get your moose ass some fancy clothes,” Gabriel said.

            “I don’t have any money,” Sam said, frowning. “Or anything to trade.”

            “Who said anything about money?” The angel winked at him.

            “…Right,” Sam said after a moment. “Lead the way?”

            Gabriel shook his head. “You’re just a wee bit noticeable. Wait here, and I’ll be back before you can say ‘where did that handsome archangel get to?’”

            “What handsome archangel?” Sam asked innocently.

            Said archangel rolled his eyes. “Very funny. Try not to miss me too much, Sammykins.” He sauntered off toward the large building, pausing after a few feet to blow Sam a kiss before continuing. Sam shook his head, and was most definitely not smiling fondly as he found a place to sit in front of the nearest building.

           When someone approached him a few minutes later, he stood up warily. The young woman wasn’t holding a weapon and didn’t appear to be an angel, so he stopped himself from reaching for his gun and waited to see what she would do. Then she was close enough for him to recognize her face, and he did an abrupt double-take.

            “Jo? What are you doing here?”

            “Looking around,” she said. “What are _you_ doing here? Last we heard you and Dean were in Kentucky. Where is Dean, anyway?”

            “That’s kind of why I’m here. Apparently angels steal people now, and they took Dean.” He gestured to the building Gabriel had shown him. “According to…someone I talked to, he’s probably in the eyrie over there.”

            Jo frowned at him. “Dean’s in the eyrie?” She asked slowly.

            “Yeah, that’s what I said. Why?” He didn’t like the look she was giving him.

            “Bobby found a way to actually hurt those winged bastards – holy fire.” She took a deep breath. “We’re going to attack the eyrie in less than an hour.”

            “We? Who’s with you?”

            “My mom, Bobby, some other hunters. I’ll try to stall them, but if you and Dean are still in there when they attack –“ She didn’t finish. She didn’t really have to.

            “Okay.” Sam rubbed a hand over his face, trying not to think about that. “Do what you can, and I’ll get Dean out. We can do this.”

            She smiled hesitantly. “Good luck, Sam. I should go now.”

            “Thanks, Jo. Good luck.” He tried to smile back, but it dropped as soon as she turned away. Not only was he trying to break into angel headquarters, he now had a time limit and no idea how long it would take his way in to get back from wherever he was. This just kept getting more fun.

            It took another fifteen minutes after that for Gabriel to return, and Sam spent every one of them fidgeting anxiously, uncomfortably aware of how little time they had left to pull this off. When the angel finally reappeared, carrying a neatly folded stack of clothing, Sam nearly gasped in relief.

            “We’ve got a problem,” he said.

            “I’ll say. Who let you get so tall, kid? Do you know how hard it was to find clothes for you?” Gabriel passed Sam half of the pile, then started into the building to change. The hunter grabbed his arm, stopping him.

            “No, seriously.” He briefly outlined what Jo had told him. As he spoke, Gabriel’s usual faint smirk dropped.

            “Holy fire? Where did they even learn that?”

            “Will it work?” Sam asked. He couldn’t deny that having a working weapon against the angels would be useful, but it would’ve been nice if Bobby could have waited just a bit longer to learn about it.

            “Unfortunately. Which means we need to find your brother and get out as fast as possible.” Tugging his arm gently out of Sam’s grip, he continued into the building, Sam following behind.

            It appeared to be some kind of office, or possibly an apartment. He wasn’t paying much attention as he moved to one side to change into the clothes Gabriel had given him. Which may or may not have been stolen, he wasn’t entirely clear on that.

            His outfit was a simple, cheap suit, the kind he’d worn dozens of times when he and Dean were pretending to be FBI for a case. After he was dressed he turned around carefully, in case Gabriel was still changing. He needn’t have worried, since the angel was already tucking his other clothes away inside his bag. His wings were out again, and Sam kind of wanted to ask how they hadn’t ripped his jacket, but then Gabriel was straightening to look at him and the thought was pushed out of his head because _holy shit_.

            Gabriel looked good in a suit. Gabriel looked _really good_ in a suit.

            “Like what you see, Samsquatch? I know I do.” He winked and Sam looked away, clearing his throat.

            “We should get going,” he said instead of answering the question.

            “The next part should be easy, unless they’ve changed the door guard since I checked things out. All we have to do is walk in through the door.”

            “And then we hope they don’t decide to kill both of us?” Sam added.

            “I’d like to see them try,” Gabriel said. “Archangel, remember? That lot might be a bunch of dicks, but they’re not stupid. They shouldn’t try anything.”

            They left their bags in the building when they left, tucked away behind an uncomfortable looking couch in the corner. Sam wasn’t happy about having to leave their stuff (not to mention his clothes), but Gabriel pointed out that it would look somewhat odd for them to bring backpacks to what was supposed to be a party.

            “I’m going to have to fly over and meet you there,” Gabriel said when they got outside.

            “Why? Wouldn’t that draw attention?”

            “Not as much as an angel trying to mix with the crowd that’s hanging outside the eyrie would. As you’ve probably noticed, my siblings don’t like walking or mixing with humans. Just walk over to the door, and I’ll come meet you.”

            Sam hesitated a moment longer, then realized he was wasting time and hurried down the street. Behind him, he heard the unfortunately familiar sound of angel wingbeats. He felt an automatic surge of wariness at the sound, but forced it down. This was Gabriel, not some random angel attacking him.

            When he turned the corner onto the street where the eyrie was, he could see what Gabriel meant about a crowd. For most of the block around the tall building, groups of people milled about. Some, like him, were wearing whatever finery they’d managed to scrape together. Others sat along the sides, seemingly camping there.

            There was a large half circle of open space around the entrance to the eyrie. A short line of people waited at the door, looking for all the world like they were attending a fancy party at the hotel the angels had taken as their eyrie. He could only see a single angelic guard, standing next to the door and occasionally letting someone in, but he had no doubt that the angels hovering overhead in various places along the street were keeping an eye on the proceedings.

            Before he’d taken more than a few steps into the empty space, Gabriel landed beside him in a flutter of golden wings. He smiled briefly up at Sam. “Miss me?”

            Not waiting for an answer, he took Sam’s arm and towed him toward the door, completely ignoring the line of people already waiting there. Several people were glaring at them for that, though none of them were willing to tell off an angel for bad manners. Sam tried to look as apologetic as possible, but it didn’t seem to help much. The angel manning – angel-ing? – the door looked much younger than any of the others he’d seen so far, barely more than a teenager. He also looked very surprised.

            “Gabriel? I heard you were dead.”

            Pressing his free hand to his chest, Gabriel contrived to look as hurt as possible. “Do you really think so little of me, Samandriel? You know I’m too awesome to be killed like that.”

            “I am glad to hear the reports were incorrect.” The other angel stepped aside to pull the door open for them. “I expect many of the others will want to speak to you.”

            “They can wait,” Gabriel said cheerfully. “After you, Sam.”

            The front door opened into an elegant lobby. The desk was unmanned, and the room’s only other occupants were a pair of angels conversing near the wall. On the other side of the room, a pair of double doors opened into a large room filled with a mix of humans and angels. Gabriel started toward the doors, but Sam held back for a moment.

            “Aren’t we going to look for Dean?” He asked softly, glancing at the pair of angels to make sure they weren’t paying attention.

            “To do that, we need some idea of where he might be,” Gabriel explained patiently. “We don’t have enough time to just start opening doors at random.”

            “Right. Okay.” Sam shook himself, annoyed. He was supposed to be the smart one, and he’d been about to rush in without a hint of a plan. “Let’s go, then.”

            He strode toward the double doors. Gabriel followed, chuckling softly at Sam’s abrupt attitude change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Dean this chapter, but don't worry. Important things will happen to him soon. We're getting very close to the end here - I'd estimate maybe two more chapters, but I could be wrong. This story has a habit of getting away from me.


	7. Chapter 7

            The majority of the room’s occupants were angels, dressed in the neat suits that seemed to be almost a uniform for them, but there was a surprising number of humans as well. They were mingling like this was a normal party, but Sam could see the tension in many of the humans and the forced quality to the angels’ smiles.

            “How exactly are we going to figure out where Dean is?” Sam asked, somewhat daunted by the number of angels in the room.

            “I’m going to do some mingling,” Gabriel said, not sounding very happy about it. “You come along and look pretty, maybe talk to some of the humans.”

            “That’s all?”

            “Believe me, the less noticeable you are to my siblings, the better. But if it makes you feel better, you can come up with the excuse to get us out of here when we figure out where your brother is being kept.”

            Gabriel adjusted his grip on Sam’s arm, fixed his familiar grin on his face, and led them toward the nearest group of angels. The human tried for a smile himself, decided it probably looked forced and uncomfortable, and let it drop again.

            When they noticed Gabriel, two of the conversing angels quickly excused themselves from the group and hurried off into the crowd. The remaining angel, a redheaded woman with wings to match, gave the two of them a genuine grin.

            “Looks like I was right again! I _knew_ you wouldn’t die that easily.” She turned her gaze toward Sam. “I’m Anna, by the way. Nice to meet you.”

            “You too. I’m Sam.” Once the greetings were out of the way, Anna seemed to lose interest and returned her attention to her fellow angel.

            “Where have you been hiding out? We could have used your help.”

            “You know I don’t want to be part of all these politics, Anna.”

            “Zachariah’s been using your ‘death’ to convince the others that we should go through with the apocalypse plan.” She snorted. “Apparently they’re willing to believe a bunch of humans with guns could take down an archangel if it means getting this over with. No offense, Sam.”

            “He’s actually getting supporters?” Gabriel asked. He sighed. “I fake my death for two months and everybody goes crazy.”

            “Don’t give yourself too much credit. I’m pretty sure some of them were crazy anyway. But he’s saying,” she leaned in conspiratorially, “that he found Michael’s vessel.”

            Sam had no idea what that meant, but Gabriel was looking at him like he was seeing the hunter for the first time. “Really?”

            “Even though he’s done nothing to prove it, a bunch of our brothers and sisters have gone to his side because of that claim.”

            “He hasn’t proved he’s found it, or he hasn’t proved it’s actually Michael’s vessel?”

            “We all know he’s found something, and he obviously thinks it’s important. But whatever is in that room, no one’s seen it except the guards.” Something across the room caught her eye. “I should go now. It was good to see you.”

            As she retreated, Sam turned to Gabriel. “What’s Michael’s vessel? Does that have something to do with Dean?”

            His angel mulled the question over for a moment. “When angels come to earth, they have two options. They can use a form made specifically for them, like the ones you’ve seen, or they can take a vessel. You with me so far?”

            “Angels can possess people?” Sam asked.

            “Not like demons. We need permission first, and only certain humans can be vessels. If they’re not strong enough, they’ll literally burn up. The more powerful the angel, the harder it is for them to find a proper vessel.

            “Now, Michael is very, very powerful. Coming to earth in anything close to his true form would cause a whole bunch of problems, but he needs to be on earth for the big fight.”

            “So he needs a vessel,” Sam said.

            Gabriel pointed at him. “Bingo. Problem is, vessels strong enough for him are incredibly rare. At most, there might be two or three in the entire world.”

            “And…they think Dean is one of those vessels?”

            “Yep. Which makes our job even harder than it was. Your brother’s going to have more guards on him than the president.”

            “I might have a way to get some of those guards away,” Sam said hesitantly.

            “We could lure them with food,” Gabriel joked. “Speaking of food, check out the refreshments over there.”

            As he followed the shorter man to the refreshment table, Sam explained his plan quietly, pausing whenever another angel got too close. Gabriel considered it, chewing thoughtfully on some kind of pastry.

            “I don’t know exactly what your hunter friends are planning, but if she mentioned holy fire it’ll likely be something that causes the angels to leave the building. So there’s a good chance we’ll be able to get to your brother in the confusion. Of course, there’s also the fact that things are likely going to be on fire, but we can deal with that when it happens.”

            “We don’t know when they’re going to attack,” Sam warned. “My best guess would be sometime in the next hour, but it could be any time, and we’re going to have to be ready right away.”

            “It’ll be fine,” Gabriel assured him. “We’ve got this, Sammich. Have a cherry thing and calm down. We have some waiting to do.”

            Sam took the offered pastry. It was soft and fluffy, but with his stomach roiling from nerves he wasn’t sure if he could choke anything down. He forced himself to eat it anyway, since his last meal had been early that morning and he needed some energy.

            Gabriel looked over at something behind Sam and groaned. “Please tell me he’s just here for the food…Nope. This is why we can’t have nice things.”

            Sam turned to see another angel approaching them. He looked kind of like the smarmy business men that showed up on TV sometimes, and his wings were pale yellow, like white things left in the sun too long.

            “Gabriel, I’m so happy to find the stories about your death were incorrect.” He looked over at Sam with thinly-veiled dislike. “I wasn’t aware you were consorting with humans now.”

            “Beats the company here. Anyway, I thought all this,” he waved a hand at the room around them, “was your idea. Looks like ‘consorting’ to me.”

            The angel gave a pained smile. “This won’t be necessary for much longer. I believe I’ve found the key to ending our time slumming down here.”

            “Oh yeah, Michael’s vessel. Has he said yes, yet?” Gabriel asked nonchalantly.

            “He is…not yet aware of his purpose. But I am sure he will agree when he is told of his divine calling.”

            “Because humans are just falling over each other to help us out after what we did.”

            “It was necessary,” Smarmy Business Angel insisted. “When we win and they gain eternal paradise, they will understand.”

            “Of course,” Gabriel said flatly. “Do you want something, Zachariah?”

            “I thought, since you’ve been gone so long, you need someone to update you on current affairs here,” Zachariah said, the picture of helpful innocence.

            “Thank you, but I think I can manage. Don’t you have some followers to recruit or something?”

            Zachariah recognized the obvious dismissal for what it was, and excused himself. Sam looked after him with a raised eyebrow. “ _That’s_ the guy who’s been getting so many angels on his side?”

            Gabriel grimaced. “He can be very persuasive when he wants to. And of course, now he has the advantage of claiming to have Michael’s vessel on his side.”

            “There is no way Dean will agree to anything that douche asks of him. Especially if it involves getting possessed.”

            “But no one needs to know that, do they? It sounds like no one has seen very much of him,” Gabriel pointed out.

            Sam frowned, then brightened slightly as a thought occurred to him. “That might be a good thing for us, actually. If no one’s seen Dean, they wouldn’t know him from all the other humans in the building. No one will think twice if they see him leaving, especially with everything else that’ll be happening.”

            “I like the way you think, Samsquatch,” Gabriel said.

 

It takes thirty minutes after that for something to happen. Thirty minutes of Gabriel making awkward small talk with angels who ignored his obvious dislike of them in favor of trying to convince him why he should support this or that faction, while Sam watched and tried not to be too obvious about the fact that his stomach felt like it was tying itself into knots.

            Sam left with the excuse of using the bathroom so he could get some air and hopefully get himself together. Gabriel didn’t look thrilled about it, but since he was in the middle of trying to convince a green-winged angel that no, he really didn’t care whether or not their side could convince the humans to join them, there wasn’t much he could do about it when Sam ducked away.

            Once he left the room he found that although the hotel’s designers really liked elaborate paintings and fancy carpets, they apparently hadn’t seen signs as a necessary addition to their décor. Despite this, he assumed that something as simple as a bathroom should be easy to find.

            He was wrong.

            Several random turns later, he was starting to wonder if he would even be able to find his way back to the party. He was about to turn around and try it when he heard a conversation. Maybe whoever was talking would be able to point him back to where he was supposed to be.

            He moved toward the room where the voices were coming from and looked inside. Then he quickly ducked back, hoping he hadn’t been seen. Several moments passed and no one came to demand what he was doing, so he dared another peek around the doorframe and realized the room’s occupants were looking away from him.

            One was obviously a demon, wearing the body of a woman in a park ranger’s outfit, eyes completely black. The other was an angel, tall and imposing, with brown speckled wings held half open in a pose that wasn’t quite threatening, but suggested that threats could easily happen in the near future. The two of them appeared to be having a civil conversation; the angel didn’t even have his sword out.

            “Tell your master we are nearly ready,” the angel was saying. “The other factions are too busy bickering to notice our actions.”

            “What about…you know.”

            “Concern yourself with your part. We have it under control.” Sam really wished they would stop talking so cryptically.

            “If you say so. Is that all?” The demon asked. The angel nodded, and she disappeared.

Sam took that as his cue to leave and hurried down the hall. He managed to find his way back to the party without any more incidents. Gabriel was more or less where he’d left him, the green-winged angel still waffling on. Since his angel looked about ready to start bring out his sword, he probably wouldn’t mind Sam providing an excuse for him to leave. Sure enough, as soon as he spotted Sam, he excused himself from the conversation and hurried over.

“These hunter friends of yours are very slow, aren’t they? I would have welcomed some kind of attack right then.” He shuddered theatrically. “Who decided it was a good idea to let that guy out of his office?”

Sam more or less ignored his rant and led him off to the side where they hopefully couldn’t be overheard. “I found something.”

“Does it have something to do with Dean?” Gabriel asked, forgetting his annoyance with the other angel.

“I don’t know, but it’s pretty big. Someone on your side is working with demons.”

Gabriel frowned. “That can’t be right. My siblings might be a bunch of douchebags, but they wouldn’t betray each other like that.”

“I know what I saw,” Sam said. “They were talking like they knew each other. The demon wasn’t even in a trap.”

“Well, that’s great. As if we didn’t have enough drama on our hands.” He took a deep breath, let it out slowly. “Did they see you?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Okay, then it can wait until we get your brother and get out of here. They won’t be able to do much between now and whenever that attack happens.”

Of course, that was when the sound of some kind of explosion boomed out from somewhere further into the hotel. Polite conversation turned into screams and shouts, the party erupting into chaos as everyone made for the doors at once. Sam and Gabriel exchanged a look, then turned and joined the crowd streaming for the doors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, demons are a thing again. Almost forgot about that lol. I was going to include a scene with Cas and Dean too, but the chapter was getting pretty long, so we'll see them at the beginning of the next chapter. I'm sure they've been up to wildly exciting things while we were gone.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost a week late and kind of short, but here it is! Hope you enjoy!

Something was definitely going on. A few moments ago Dean had heard the unmistakable sound of an explosion from below them, and now there seemed to be some kind of argument outside his door. Was someone attacking the hotel?

            He tried to listen to the argument for clues, but it was being held in a language he didn’t recognize. Something thudded against the wall, and the voices cut off abruptly. Dean frowned and backed away from the door. Not for the first time, he wished he had his gun. His eye caught on the heavy lamp on the nightstand, and he shrugged. It was better than nothing.

            The door banged open and he raised his makeshift weapon, only to drop it when he recognized the intruder. “Cas? What’s going on?”

            The angel’s trench coat was even more rumpled than usual, and he held his sword tightly in one hand. Dean noted with some relief that there was no blood on it.

            “We’re under attack. I’m going to get you out of here.” He looked anxiously over his shoulder, then turned back to Dean. “We need to leave as soon as possible. It won’t be long before my siblings come to check on you.”

            “Other angels are attacking you?”

            “No, it’s a group of humans. But while they are distracting the others, we can get you out of here.”

            “You’re helping me escape?” Dean asked, staring at Cas in surprise.

            Cas gave him an innocent look. “Of course not. I am merely helping you get somewhere safe, since the others are too busy to do so.”

            Dean couldn’t help smiling. “Right. Lead the way.”

            As they stepped into the hallway, he noticed the grumpy angel slumped against the wall next to the door in a heap of brown feathers. Cas ignored him, staring straight ahead as he strode down the hall away from the window exit they normally used.

There was a stairwell at the end of the hall, next to a pair of elevators. Cas glanced back down the hall warily before pushing open the doors. “There shouldn’t be anyone in here, but we should hurry just in case.”

 

Using his height to his advantage, Sam shoved through the crowd with Gabriel in tow until they made it into the lobby. He stepped to one side to avoid the flow of people and angels heading to the door. He could hear shouting through the open front doors, cutting over the noise of the frightened crowd.

“What’s the plan? We still don’t know where Dean is,” Sam pointed out.

“I have a general idea,” Gabriel said. “We need to find some stairs.”

Sam looked around. “There’s an elevator around that corner. I think I saw some stairs next to it.”

“Let’s go, then. I hope you don’t mind climbing a _lot_ of stairs.” Gabriel took off like a small, gold-feathered bullet, almost running over an angel with rumpled white wings. Sam followed, resisting the urge to apologize to the angel as he passed.

The stairwell was exactly where Sam thought it was. It had a lot of stairs in it, and was just as unnecessarily fancy as everything else in the hotel.

            “He’ll probably be on one of the top floors,” Gabriel said. He started up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

            Sam paused and looked up, trying to judge how many floors there were. A lot, he concluded, although he couldn’t tell the exact number. On one of the higher floors, he thought he could see someone looking over the railing at them.

            “We’ve got company,” he warned Gabriel as he moved to join him on the stairs.

            The angel paused, looking back at Sam. He summoned his sword from wherever he kept it, but didn’t look concerned. “It’s probably just some humans who were staying in one of the rooms.” He lifted his sword for a moment. “Still, if they want to pick a fight, we can take them.”

            Sam nodded. He pulled his knife from where it was hidden by his jacket and held it casually by his side, and they continued up the stairs.

           

            Dean and Cas were two floors down from where his room had been when one of the doors beneath them opened loudly, startling Dean and almost causing his descent to become a lot faster and much more painful. He caught himself on the railing and peered over the edge, trying to spot the cause of the noise. All the way at the bottom, he got a glimpse of a gold-winged angel darting up the stairs before he was blocked from view by the flights between them. It was followed by a wingless figure, who paused to look up before continuing after the angel.

            The hunter pushed away from the railing and turned to Cas. “One of your buddies seems to be coming our way.”

            “What did they look like?”

            “Hard to tell from all the way up here,” Dean said. “They had gold wings and they were moving fast, but that’s about all I could make out.”

            “Gold wings,” Cas repeated flatly. “You’re sure?”

            “Yeah, they’re kind of obvious. Why?”

            “There is only one angel with wings like that, and he was supposedly killed during the first attacks.”

            Dean had only heard of one angel being killed. He and Sam had spent almost two weeks trying to figure out how it had been done, and had almost died several times trying to test their ideas. “You don’t mean – _Gabriel_? The archangel?”

            Cas nodded solemnly. “I am not sure how or why he is here now, but we may be in trouble. Let me do the talking if we have to confront him.”

            “You think he’ll try to stop us?” More than ever, Dean wished he had a proper weapon. It wouldn’t do anything, of course, but it would make him feel a little better.

            “It’s hard to say. In the past he did not agree with my superiors’ efforts to prepare for the final battle, so he might not be interested in us at all. But it’s also possible that his views have changed since his disappearance, in which case we should be prepared for a confrontation.”

            “You wouldn’t happen to have a spare sword I could use if it does come to that?” Dean asked hopefully.

            “Even if I did, you would not last more than a few seconds in a fight against him,” Cas said.

            “I thought you’d say that.” Dean sighed. “We might as well get going, then.”

           

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait, but we're getting very close to the end. I'd really appreciate it if you guys let me know what you think about it so far!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry about how late this chapter is. School started a couple weeks ago and I've been pretty busy. I'll try to finish the next chapter soon, but I can't make any promises. I think we're getting close to the end, though! There should be one chapter left after this, unless something unexpected happens.

Gabriel was shorter than Dean expected. It was hard to judge height from shaky cell phone footage of something hovering in the air, but considering the guy was an archangel and all, he’d imagined someone taller.

            But that didn’t really matter. Gabriel could have been a six-foot tall hamster with pink fur for all he cared, because _Sam_ was standing next to the archangel, seemingly unable to decide between looking relieved at seeing Dean or wary about Cas’s presence at his brother’s side.

            “Are you alright, Dean?” He asked.

            “I’m fine.” Dean took a step closer to Sam, then paused when Cas touched his shoulder. He looked back, confused, and the angel tilted his head meaningfully at Gabriel. Right. Unpredictable and possibly dangerous archangel.

            “Let him go,” Sam ordered, raising his knife threateningly.

            Cas glanced briefly at him before focusing his attention on Gabriel again. “I am taking him somewhere safer,” he said stiffly.

            “I think we can handle it from here,” Gabriel replied with an easy smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

            “The eyrie is under attack. Until I know that Dean is not in danger, I would prefer to stay with him.”

            “We don’t have time for this,” Sam snapped. “Get away from my brother and I might let you walk away.”

            Dean decided to intervene before someone got hurt. “It’s fine, Sammy. He’s helping me.”

            “He is?” Sam let his knife drop slightly.

            “I am getting Dean out of the eyrie,” Cas confirmed. He eyed Gabriel warily. “Only until it’s safe, of course.”

             “You should work on your lying skills, Cassie.” Dean tensed, expecting the archangel to attempt to stop them from leaving, but he just shook his head and grinned. “It sounds like we have the same goal here, so how about we stop wasting time and work together.”

            Dean looked at Sam for confirmation and received a quick nod. “Alright, I guess we’re doing this. Let’s get going.”

            Gabriel turned and bounced down the stairs with an enthusiasm that seemed out of place compared to the other angels he’d seen so far. Dean moved up to walk next to Sam, while Cas hung back, giving them room to talk.

            “Are you really alright?” Sam asked after a moment.

            “I’m fine. Besides Cas, none of the angels seemed even remotely interested in me. I sat around in one of the rooms for most of the week,” Dean explained.

            Sam rolled his eyes. “Typical. I go on a cross-country trek to rescue you, and when I get here you’ve already seduced your angel guard into sneaking you out.”

            “I haven’t seduced anybody!” Dean spluttered, a bit too loudly. Gabriel glanced over his shoulder at them, looking amused. Dean lowered his voice to a more reasonable volume and changed the subject quickly. “How did you pick up a dead archangel to help you with your rescue mission?”

            “I’m not entirely sure. I kind of ran into him and then things just happened,” Sam said, shrugging.

            “Are you going to elaborate on that so it doesn’t sound like you’re talking about getting back together with an ex or something?” Dean asked. Sam sighed exasperatedly.

            “I mentioned that I was looking for the angels that took you and he offered to help. I didn’t realize he was an angel until a bit later in the conversation.”

            Dean looked at Gabriel’s wings. They were large, and gold, and very obviously there. “Seems like something that would be kind of hard to miss.”

            “He was halfway in another room at the time,” Sam explained.

            They were reaching the bottom of the stairs now, Cas a few steps behind them. Gabriel was cautiously looking through the stairwell door. When the other three came up behind him, he ducked his head back in and closed the door softly.

            “It looks clear out there. I think most of the humans and angels have left the building by now,” he announced.

            “There were other humans in the building?” Dean asked.

            “Some of the angels like to throw parties,” Sam explained briefly.

            “It’s a politics thing,” Gabriel added. He turned to Cas. “Do you know where to find a back entrance? Places like this always have a few, and I’m guessing we won’t run into anyone there, since it sounded like the explosion came from that direction.”

            Cas nodded and took the lead, and they hurried down the hall.

            “What was that explosion, anyway? Did you do that?” Dean asked.

            Sam shook his head. “Jo, Ellen, and Bobby are in town, along with some other hunters. Apparently Bobby found a way to hurt angels, something called holy fire. They were already planning this attack. We just took advantage of it.”

            “Did you talk to Bobby?”

            “No. I ran into Jo and she explained it to me. It sounds like he’s doing fine, though.”

            “I knew he’d figure out a way to fight back,” Dean said proudly.

            “Speaking of which, I figured you’d want this.” Sam pulled a gun from under his suit jacket and passed it over to Dean, who took it gratefully.

            “Hell yeah. You have no idea how much I’ve been wanting one of these.”

            At that moment their conversation was cut short by the sound of another explosion. This one sounded farther away, but they picked up the pace nevertheless. The eyrie appeared to be entirely deserted, so there was nothing to slow them down as they half-jogged through the halls.

            Nothing, that is, until a tall, brown-winged angel came hurrying around a corner. He narrowly avoided running into Cas, who took several quick steps back.

            “Castiel? What are you doing down here?”

            “I am escorting these humans to safety,” Cas said, slipping easily back into calm angel mode despite his surprise.

            For a moment it looked like they were going to get away with it. Then the angel took a closer look at the two humans.

            “That is Michael’s vessel. He shouldn’t be out of his room for any reason.”

            “I was ordered to move him somewhere more secure until the attack was dealt with,” Cas said, uncertainty creeping into his tone.

            “Who gave you that order?” The other angel challenged.

            Cas paused, and the other angel’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. Before he could say anything, Gabriel stepped forward, wings spread slightly to make himself look bigger.

            “I did.” He tilted his chin up as though challenging the other angel to argue.

            Unfortunately, he didn’t seem very intimidated. “Gabriel. With respect, Michael’s vessel is none of your business.”

            “I’ve decided to make it my business. Now please move out of the way so I can get him out of here,” Gabriel ordered.

            “If you try to do that, I will be forced to stop you,” the angel said, not sounding very sorry about it.

            “Believe me, Uriel, you don’t want to do that.” The archangel shifted his stance, subtly readying to defend against an attack.

            “I agree. So why don’t you give me the vessel, and I will make sure he’s escorted safely to his room.” Uriel spread his wings to mirror Gabriel’s, showing off the speckled pattern.

            Sam sucked in a sudden breath. “Gabriel, that’s him. The one who was talking to the demon.”

            Dean looked at him in confusion, feeling like he’d missed something important.

            “You’re sure?” Gabriel glanced back at him. As soon as he looked away from the brown-winged angel, Uriel took advantage of his lapse in concentration to summon his sword and lunge forward.

            “Watch out!” Cas leapt forward, intersecting Uriel’s blade with his own before it could hit Gabriel.

            The archangel was already stepping back, dodging and bringing up his sword to strike back in one fluid motion. “Consorting with demons is treason, you know. I don’t think you’re in any place to be lecturing _me_ about following the rules.”

            Uriel bared his teeth in a snarl. “I am only doing what I have to. The battle must take place, and if Heaven is not going to start it, then I’ll join the side that will.”

            He was as fast as any angel Dean had seen in a fight, managing to block or dodge every one of Gabriel’s strikes, but he was still unable to land a single hit on the archangel. The two were gradually circling, both watching for an opening. There was no sign of Gabriel’s cheerful, goofy demeanor from earlier; this was a warrior, all business and ready to fight.

            Cas had stepped back after blocking that first blow and was now standing ready against the wall, looking like he wanted to help but apparently unwilling to get between the two. Dean couldn’t blame him. He felt that if he tried to join in, he was more likely to get hit with a fast moving blade than he was to land a hit on the apparently traitorous angel.

            Uriel appeared to be growing increasingly frustrated with the fight. Despite the fact that Gabriel was obviously not fighting as hard as he could have been, Uriel couldn’t break through his defenses even once.

            “Fine,” he growled finally. “Keep the vessel. It won’t matter in the end; the battle _will_ come, Gabriel.”

            He stepped back, keeping his gaze trained warily on the archangel. Due to the way they had been circling during the fight, this put him barely a step away from Sam and Dean. Gabriel and Cas both seemed to notice and tried to edge closer, but Uriel apparently took this as a threat. His eyes darted back and forth like a trapped animal’s, and he abruptly turned to run, slashing his sword at Sam to get him out of the way.

            Uriel’s footsteps departed down the hallway, but Dean barely noticed as he rushed to check on Sam.

            “Are you alright?” he asked, frantically looking his brother over.

            Sam frowned, prodding at his side where the blade had caught him. “It doesn’t seem too deep. I think he mostly got my jacket.” His words were somewhat contradicted by the fact that his hand, when he withdrew it, was wet with blood.

            Gabriel all but shoved Dean out of the way in his effort to check on Sam. He started to protest automatically, but cut off when Sam gave him a look.

            “We should wrap this up,” the archangel said. Taking advantage of the tear in Sam’s shirt where the sword had caught, he managed to rip off a decently sized piece of material and fashion a makeshift bandage.

            “At least ask me on a date before you start ripping my clothes,” Sam joked.

            “We should get moving,” Cas said. “We don’t know how long we have until the attack finishes.”

            Dean nodded and wrangled one of Sam’s arms around his shoulders so he could support his ridiculously tall brother, and the four of them set off as quickly as they could.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, I'm back, finally. School's a bitch when it comes to finding writing time. It seems like I was wrong about getting this wrapped up in one chapter. This one turned out longer than I was expecting, so I'm splitting it in two. Still, we're getting close to the end! This is currently the longest work I have, published or otherwise, and it will be pretty cool to get it finished.

            Sam was pretty sure he hadn’t been lying to Dean about the severity of the cut. It hurt like a bitch, yes, and it was kind of bleeding a lot despite the makeshift bandage, but years of hunting had taught him to recognize a serious wound and he was pretty sure this didn’t count as one. Still, a bit of proper medical attention would be really nice right now. Or, failing that, a bottle or two of whiskey would also do the job. But that would have to wait until they got out of here.

            Thankfully there were no more interruptions before they reached the back door. Cas paused just before opening it, and Dean looked at him curiously.

            “Is there an alarm or something?”

            Cas shook his head but ignored the question otherwise, looking at Gabriel instead. “It would probably be best if we appeared more discrete.”

            “Bit hard to do that when you’ve got big, shiny gold wings sticking out of your back,” Dean commented.

            Gabriel grinned briefly at him. “Watch and learn, Dean-o.” He repeated the shivering motion Sam had seen outside of the demon town and snapped his fingers dramatically, wings fading away much more quickly than last time. Cas did the same, although with slightly fewer theatrics.

            Based on the way Dean was staring at them, he obviously hadn’t seen that particular trick before. Sam couldn’t help chuckling under his breath at his expression.

            His brother glared at him, although there wasn’t much actual heat to it. “I _will_ drop you.”

            “You can’t do that, I’m injured.”

            Gabriel chimed in before their teasing argument could escalate further. “Do you have any ideas on where to go after we get out of here?”

            “We’ll need to figure out medical attention for Sam first,” Dean said immediately.

            “I’m not sure we brought any of those with us,” Gabriel said, looking at Sam questioningly. The tall hunter shook his head.

            “Then we’ll find Jo or Bobby, or one of the other hunters who knows where they are. I’m betting they’ll have some.”

            “Do you know where they might be?” Cas asked.

            “Jo was heading away from the eyrie on the street we came into town on,” Sam said. “They might have a camp somewhere over there.”

            “It’s worth a shot,” Dean decided. “Let’s go.”

            Gabriel pushed open the door and stepped out, looking around warily. Sam and Dean followed, with Cas bringing up the rear. The staff exit was just around the corner from the main entrance, and they moved around onto the main street. It was mostly deserted, the people who had waited outside all scattered somewhere during the attack. A couple of stragglers were still leaving the building, including for some reason an angel with messy wings who was being tugged along by a dark haired human in sunglasses. The air overhead, however, was practically buzzing with activity as angels flew to and fro, leaving the building or circling over the nearby streets.

            The four of them moved as quickly as they could with Dean supporting Sam. He was tempted to tell them to go ahead so they didn’t all get caught at once, but at the same time he knew that the resulting argument would take far longer and attract more attention than simply hurrying along the street in a group like they were now. Hopefully, if they were noticed, they would look like any of the other humans fleeing the hotel.

            Sam was too busy concentrating on not letting his internal mantra of _ow holy hell what did I ever do to that angel ow that hurts_ show on his face to be much help in giving directions, so Gabriel directed Dean and Cas to the street they had approached the hotel from. It was narrower than the street in front of the hotel, and the tall buildings on both sides would hopefully help hide them somewhat from the winged douchebags flying overhead.

            Sam tended to get a bit snappy when he was injured.

            Gabriel paused outside the building where they’d stashed their things. “We should probably grab our bags. Cassie, do you mind carrying Sam’s?”

            “I can hold my own bag,” Sam protested, not very effectively since he currently wasn’t doing a great job of holding _himself_ up.

             “You just got stabbed, Sammich.  You’re not carrying anything,” Gabriel told him firmly. Before Sam could argue more, the angel was ducking into the building.

            He emerged a moment later with their bags. After passing Sam’s to Cas, he looked around the deserted street. “Any ideas on where to find these buddies of yours?”

            “They’ll have set up somewhere they can defend easily, preferably something inconspicuous and not too close to angel headquarters,” Dean said immediately. “How far from the edge of town are we?”

            “Not far,” Cas said. He pointed in a direction that was away from both the eyrie and the road into town. “There are some suburbs in that direction, but not much along this road.”

            “We’ll check over there first. I don’t suppose you could scout around?” The last part was addressed at Gabriel, who rolled his eyes.

            “Because the hunters who just attacked the angel home base will really appreciate an angel flying around near their base,” he said. “Also, I’m just a tiny bit recognizable, you know?”

            “Good point. We’ll do this the slow way, then.” Dean gave a frustrated sigh. “Are you sure you don’t have any medical supplies in there?”

            “We used them all up after we got in a fight with that ghost, remember? We didn’t manage to find more before…you know,” Sam trailed off.

            “Right.” Dean looked equally uncomfortable with that topic. “Cas, why don’t you show us which way to get to those suburbs? If they came along this route too, we’ll hopefully run into them at some point.”

            Cas nodded and moved ahead, while Gabriel followed behind Sam and Dean. A moment later the dark-haired angel seemed to remember that the hunters couldn’t move at full speed and slowed his pace.

            The neighborhood Cas was talking about wasn’t too far away, but the walk took long enough that Sam was starting to feel a little woozy. They were passing through the second or third mostly identical street when both the angels suddenly focused on the same house. He wasn’t sure what they were looking at; it was a two story house with a car still in the driveway and a dead plant in a pot next to the door, not much different from the houses around it.

            “Someone is watching us from that window,” Cas said, nodding at one of the second floor windows.

            Sam looked up at the window in question just in time to catch the curtains twitch back into place as someone withdrew from view. “Think that’s the place?”

            “Let’s find out,” Dean said. “I’ll go up first, in case it’s someone else. Can you stand on your own?”

            Sam nodded, but Dean hadn’t taken more than a few steps in the direction of the door before the younger hunter started swaying on his feet. Gabriel quickly stepped next to him, steadying him with a strong hand on his arm.

            Dean knocked loudly on the door. Someone must have been near it, because it opened after only a moment. From this angle, Sam couldn’t see who it was.

            “Dean?” He almost sagged in relief when he recognized Bobby’s voice. It felt like it had been ages since they’d last seen the old hunter. “How did you get here? Is Sam with you?”

            “Yeah. He’s hurt, though, and we ran out of first aid supplies.” Dean stepped slightly to the side so Bobby could see Sam.

            “Well, don’t just stand there in the street! Get him in here,” Bobby said, moving away from the door to let them in. He frowned at Cas and Gabriel as they followed Sam and Dean into the house. “Who are you two?”

            “They’re friends,” Dean said quickly. “This is Cas and Gabriel. They helped Sam get me out of the eyrie.”

            “What were you idjits doing there?” Bobby demanded.

            “It’s a long story,” Sam said. “We’ll tell you later.”

            “You better. Come into the kitchen and I’ll get you some stuff to stitch him up. What happened, anyway?”

            “That’s part of that long story,” Dean said.

            The kitchen was occupied by Ellen, Jo, and a skinny hunter Sam doesn’t recognize, all seated around the kitchen table. Jo stood up so fast when she saw them that her chair almost tipped over.

            “I’m glad you made it out. What happened to Sam?” Her eyes jumped between the two of them and the angels who had followed them in, making the room somewhat crowded.

            “Long story short, angels are douchebags,” Sam said.

Behind him Cas made an affronted noise, and then another noise that sounded rather like a heavenly being getting their foot stepped on. Luckily, the room’s other occupants didn’t seem to notice.

“Yes, and I’d really like to get him patched up now,” Gabriel said. The three hunters at the table turned their attention to him.

“Who are you?’ Jo asked.

“I’m Gabriel, and that’s Cas, my brother.”

“They’re friends,” Dean added.

Introductions were made somewhat warily. The skinny hunter turned out to be Garth, who Sam vaguely remembered hearing about but hadn’t met before.

“Alright, why don’t you clear out and give the boys some space to patch Sam up?” Bobby suggested.

It took a bit of maneuvering to get everyone to the door, but eventually only Sam, Dean, and the disguised angels were left in the kitchen. After a moment, Bobby returned with a large first aid kit and took up a spot by the door.

Dean might have been a competent field doctor, but he wasn’t gentle by any means. The best Sam could say about the experience was that at least there were no random bits and pieces stuck in the wound. About the only thing less fun than getting a wound sewn up was having to dig splinters or a bullet out of it first.

Gabriel settled at his side where he was leaning against the table while Dean worked, and Sam wasn’t in the mood to question why he felt comforted by the light-haired angel’s warmth seeping through his shirt where they touched.

“Are you hurt?” Sam asked when Dean was finished. He’d been clutching the edge of the table hard enough to make his knuckles go white, and he released his grip quickly.

“No, I’m good. Probably better than you, honestly. I had a fancy bed and three meals a day.” Sam had a lot of experience translating Dean-speak, and that was most definitely ‘I feel guilty about this so I’m going to make jokes about it.’

“Are you sure you’ll be ready to hunt again when this heals up a bit? Sounds like you’re going soft,” Sam teased.

“Shut up,” Dean replied, somewhat more cheerfully.

“Now that we’re on the subject of Dean’s little trip to angel land, why don’t you boys explain what that was about?” Bobby asked.

Sam nodded. “Alright. If you want to tell Ellen and Jo too, you should probably call them back in. It’ll be faster to only explain it once.”

“Everyone back in the kitchen, we’re having a meeting!” Bobby called, turning around to lean out of the kitchen door.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here it is. It's a bit short, but I thought it was too much to add onto the end of the last chapter.

Once everyone was crammed into the kitchen again, there was a long moment of silence while Dean tried to figure out the best place to start.

“We were passing through a town a few days south of here when we saw some children get noticed by angels,” Sam said. “We stepped in to help, obviously, but as soon as one of them noticed Dean, none of them were interested in me or the kids anymore.”

“They ended up snatching me and taking me back to their headquarters,” Dean put in. “Not much happened while I was there. They mostly left me alone.”

“While I was following them, I ran into Gabriel, who told me he knew where Dean might have been taken. We decided to team up, and he led me here,” Sam said. “When we got here, we ran into Jo. She told us about the attack you guys were planning, and we thought it might be good cover to get Dean out of there.”

“So I got some suits for us and pretended to be Sam’s date to get us into their party,” Gabriel added with a grin.

“There was no pretend dating,” Sam said firmly, glaring at the disguised archangel.

“Anyway,” Dean interrupted, “while I was there I met Cas, and he decided to help me escape when the attack happened. We ran into Sam and Gabriel on the way out. Unfortunately, we also ran into some douche angel.”

“Uriel,” Sam said. “I kind of accidentally found him working with a demon, and he didn’t take it too well when I mentioned that.”

“An angel and a demon working together? Why would they do that?” Jo asked.

“I have no idea. They were talking in some kind of code the whole time,” Sam said with a shrug.

“We found out something else,” Dean said. “This whole apocalypse thing? Turns out there’s a part two.”

“What do you mean?” Bobby asked, frowning.

“My- the angels,” Cas corrected himself quickly, “are planning for the final battle between Michael and Lucifer. Dean is an important part of their plan.”

“The way I understood it, angels have a choice between using the forms we’ve seen or possessing someone,” Sam said, glancing at Gabriel to confirm that he was getting it right. “But some of the really powerful angels, like Michael, need a vessel, or else they’ll cause all sorts of problems if they touch down.” 

Gabriel nodded. “Not just anyone can be a vessel for these guys, though. I’m not entirely sure how it gets determined – something about bloodlines? – but there are only a few people in the world who are strong enough to be Michael’s vessel. And one of them is standing right in this room.”

“Lucky me,” Dean muttered.

“The battle cannot proceed unless Michael gets a vessel, so you can see why they will be looking for Dean when they realize he is gone,” Cas said.

“So we probably want to be somewhere far away from here,” Ellen said.

“They won’t stop looking until they find Dean or someone who can replace him. But it would be a good idea to get away from the eyrie and slap as much warding as possible on your new hideout,” Gabriel agreed.

“What kind of warding works on angels?” Dean asked.

“I know a couple of symbols,” the archangel said, waving a hand casually.

“How do you know all of this? Are you a hunter?” Jo asked.

Gabriel hesitated for less than a second. “No, but I know a few. I’m more on the research side of things.”

“It’s getting late,” Bobby said. “Let’s get some rest, and tomorrow we can figure out about moving base. There’re plenty of rooms upstairs. You boys can take your pick.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have any food, would you?” Gabriel asked. “The giraffe and I’ve mostly been living off jerky and fruit.”

“There’s some stew left over from dinner,” Ellen said, pointing at a pot on the counter. “Feel free to have some.”

“Will do. Thank you very much.”

“I’ll go ahead and put our stuff in a room,” Dean offered. Gabriel offered him his bag, and he took it on the way out of the kitchen.

Sam helped Gabriel search the cabinets for bowls and spoons while the rest of the group wandered out of the kitchen. Briefly, he wondered what had happened to the people who used to live in this house.

“Bingo!” Gabriel called, holding up a pair of mismatched bowls. 

He used the ladle that was still in the pot to pour some stew for both of them and set the bowls on the table. Sam found some spoons in a drawer next to the sink and handed one to Gabriel before sitting down at the table and pulling his bowl closer. The stew was barely lukewarm, but still the best thing he’d eaten for weeks, full of carrots and some kind of meat.

“So what are you going to do next?” He asked Gabriel once he’d finished most of his bowl.

The angel shrugged. “Find a bed, hopefully. Now that we don’t have to keep watch, maybe I can convince you to share it with me?” He gave an exaggerated wink and grinned.

Sam rolled his eyes, smiling despite himself. “Maybe. It’s not like you’d take up that much space, but I think you’re forgetting that we’ll be sharing with Dean and Cas.”

“What made you think we’d be doing anything other than sleeping? You’ve got a naughty mind, Sammich.”

“Please, you’re the one who suggested it first. But that’s not what I meant. Where will you go after this?”

“I figured I’d go wherever you guys were going,” Gabriel said slowly. His stew suddenly seemed to require a lot of concentration to eat, based on the way he was staring at it. “Or is this your way of telling me you don’t want me to come along?”

“No!” Sam protested, maybe a little too quickly. “I just thought – you don’t have to help me anymore. You could go anywhere you like.”

“And do what? The world’s been a bit boring since it ended, if you hadn’t noticed.” He looked up from his bowl, gold eyes meeting Sam’s. “I didn’t ‘have’ to do anything. If I didn’t want to be here, I would’ve left by now. I’m here because I like being around you, Sam.”

Now it was Sam’s turn to look away, focusing on the pattern of yellow flowers on his bowl. “In that case, I’d enjoy having you around a bit longer.”

“I’ll hang around as long as you’ll have me.” The angel stood up and looked around the kitchen before putting his bowl next to the sink.

Sam scraped one last bite out of his before getting up to put it next to the other one. He tested the tap, but nothing came out. He looked up, and was struck by how close they were standing. He wondered if he should be stepping back, but Gabriel didn’t seem to mind, so he didn’t. And then, without really thinking about it, he leaned down and pressed their mouths together.

Gabriel’s lips were soft against his, and for a moment the angel didn’t move, eyes widening in surprise.

Sam pulled back, an apology forming on his tongue, but before he could say anything Gabriel was surging up, grabbing Sam’s shoulders and deepening their kiss. He stumbled a little, hands coming up and hovering for a moment before settling on the shorter man’s waist.

Eventually they pulled apart, although Gabriel didn’t release his grip on Sam’s shoulders.

“That was…wow,” Sam said, his ability to speak momentarily deserting him. 

Gabriel beamed up at him. “Took you long enough to figure that out.”

“Wait, you were actually flirting with me?”

“What – of course I was!” Gabriel stepped back to throw his hands up, expression a mixture of amusement and exasperation. “You flirted back, didn’t you?”

“I kind of thought you were joking,” Sam admitted. 

“You’re lucky you’re cute, Samsquatch.”

Dean chose the first unoccupied room he came to. It was kind of dark, but there was enough light from the setting sun coming through the half-open curtains to see by. It looked like a guest room, with a neatly made but somewhat small bed and some sort of abstract art on one wall. He tossed Gabriel’s bag on the floor next to the bed. Cas set Sam’s down next to it, somewhat more carefully. 

He decided to be the nice sibling for once and leave the bed for Sam, and began to dig through his brother’s bag in search of some kind of blankets. Once he found them, he spread them out on the side of the bed opposite the door.

“We don’t have any blankets for you, sorry,” he said to Cas. “There might be some in a closet somewhere.”

“I won’t need any. Angels don’t require sleep to function, although many do enjoy it.” Cas took a seat against the wall near Dean’s bedding.

“That’s…convenient. Less stuff to carry to the next place, I guess,” Dean said. “You will be coming? To wherever we’re moving, I mean.”

“It appears to be my best option right now. Word has likely spread about my involvement with your escape. If I were to return to the eyrie, my reception would be unpleasant, to say the least.” The angel grimaced slightly.

“What do you mean?” Dean asked. 

“Angels who disobey often have their wings cut off,” Cas said bluntly.

“Oh,” was all Dean could think to say. He mentally kicked himself for bringing it up, and tried to change the subject as quickly as possible. “You’re welcome here as long as you need to stay.”

Cas inclined his head briefly. “Thank you. I would like to stay for a while but – it’s not comfortable, having my wings tucked away like this. I don’t imagine I will have many opportunities to stretch them while I’m here.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Dean said. “You could, I don’t know, offer to do some scouting, maybe.” 

“I appreciate your help with this,” Cas said, cracking a small smile. “But it’s not something that needs to be dealt with right now. Go to sleep. We can figure this out in the morning.”

Dean nodded his agreement and sat down on the blankets to pull off his boots, setting them next to the bed. His jacket joined them, folded into a haphazard pile, before he settled down and pulled the top blanket over himself.

“Good night, Cas,” he mumbled.

“Good night,” Cas replied.

Dean drifted off, comforted by the angel’s warmth only a few inches away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to write a second part to this, but I'll probably take a break before deciding. I'm not sure how interested people would be in that, though. If y'all could let me know what you think, I'd really appreciate it.  
> Please forgive my awkwardness with kissing scenes. How does romance even work, I just don't know.

**Author's Note:**

> I can't promise that I'll update this regularly, especially with finals coming up, but I'll try to update once a week if I can.


End file.
